ST. GEORGE — Police spent four hours coaxing Ruby Franke's malnourished and "petrified" daughter out of a closet shortly after the child's older brother escaped through a window of the home and ran to a neighbor's house seeking help.

Police body-camera video released Friday shows officers interacting with the girl sitting in the middle of an empty closet inside a bathroom in Jodi Hildebrandt's Ivins home on Aug. 30, 2023.

The officers in the video bring the 9-year-old pizza, offer to sit with her and play music for her as they patiently try to care for her. She hesitates for minutes before picking up the pizza and eating it quickly. The emergency medical team assures her they only want to help, and eventually she walks out of the closet on her own.

Franke, a YouTube vlogger who had millions of followers on her "8 Passengers" channel, and Hildebrandt both pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse, a second-degree felony, and were each ordered to serve four terms of one to 15 years in prison. Franke said Hildebrandt was her life coach, and the two collaborated on a podcast and videos for Hildebrandt's business, Connexions Classroom. The two children had been living in Hildebrandt's home.

Washington County prosecutors released much of the evidence in the cases against Franke and Hildebrandt as part of a public records request, including body camera videos of the police response, interviews, photos, police reports and Franke's journal.

"The investigation found that religious extremism motivated Ms. Franke and Ms. Hildebrandt to inflict this horrific abuse," the Washington County Attorney's Office said in a summary of the case. "The women appeared to fully believe that the abuse they inflicted was necessary to teach the children how to properly repent for imagined 'sins' and to cast the evil spirits out of their bodies."

Police responded to the scene after Franke's son rang a neighbor's doorbell and asked for food and water and to be taken to the police station, reports said.

Videos from the police response show a female officer walking away and crying after interacting with the boy on the neighbor's porch. They show officers nearby talking about the urgent need to get into Hildebrandt's home to find out if there are more children there.

'Religious extremism'

Ruby Franke's journal details disturbing abuse of children

YouTube vlogger Ruby Franke's journal details disturbing abuse that prosecutors say was motivated by "religious extremism."

The boy was transported to a hospital by an ambulance because of how severe his injuries were. Police in the video said he had deep lacerations from being tied up and signs of malnourishment. "I was able to see his bone structure," one officer said.

Franke's son said there was plastic wrap and duct tape on his legs and wrists because it was supposed to help his wounds from being tied. He told officers Hildebrandt and Franke put ropes on him to "help him with what he has been choosing" and that "it was his fault."

The boy reported that he had not seen his sister in over a month, and they were kept separately, but he had heard her and knew she was there.

Father interviewed

Kevin Franke, the children's father, drove to the Ivins Police Department and was interviewed shortly after his estranged wife's arrest. Officers said he did not tell them who told him to come pick up the children, but he said he had not seen them or spoken with them in the past year since he separated from his wife in July 2022 and moved out of the family home.

In a police interview, he said he and Ruby Franke were separated with a "verbal no-contact order" and said he "did not treat his wife right." He said he continued supporting the family financially and wanted to change and get back with his family.

Franke said he watched the podcast his wife and Hildebrandt released each week and enjoyed it, and also said he trusted Hildebrandt and believed meeting with her was beneficial for one of his older children. He said, however, he did not know his wife and children were living with Hildebrandt.

After police told him his son had been found duct taped and emaciated, he blinked and covered his hands with his face looking distraught.

Officers left him alone for a few minutes and when they came back his first question was, "What's going to happen with my wife? I love my wife."

On multiple occasions throughout the interview, he said, "I just want my kids." He said he was having a hard time accepting what happened to his children and said it felt like he is in the wrong conference room.

"Everything you're telling me just sounds like a made-up story, like, I have no idea what you're talking about," Kevin Franke said. "It sounds like a horror movie."

Police interviews

In an interview with Ruby Franke, police said she did not respond except to request a lawyer. She did not ask any questions to the Department of Child and Family Services while doing paperwork for them to take her four minor children into custody.

Videos show Ruby Franke being patted down and sitting quietly on a couch at Hildebrandt's home while officers were taking pictures and documenting the home.

The incident report listed multiple items collected at the scene, including Saran Wrap bandages, handcuffs, rope, five computers, clothing and cellphones. Photos taken inside the home show ropes and multiple bandages, including some that had been used, on the floor.

Hildebrandt told officers she wanted to share because she had nothing to hide, and was not trying to be difficult — but that her lawyer encouraged her not to and she trusted him.

"If you knew all the pieces, I think you'd have a lot of empathy about what's going on," she told officers.

Prosecutors say the children were kept in a "work-camp like setting. The children were regularly denied food, water, beds to sleep in, and virtually all forms of entertainment. They were also prohibited from interacting with others and were hidden in the home when others came to visit. They were forced to do physical tasks like carrying loaded boxes up and down stairs and 'sitting' against a wall without a chair or stool for hours at a time.

"The children were also forced to do manual labor outdoors in the extreme summer heat without shoes or socks," the case summary states. "They were similarly forced to stand outside, on a cement patio, in the summer heat for hours and even days. They were beaten, and the 12-year old was bound hand and foot after a previous attempt at running away. Additionally, the children suffered emotional abuse to the extent that they came to believe that they deserved the abuse."

Jail recordings

In a recorded phone call from jail after pleading guilty, Franke told a relative that hearing how Hildebrandt had continued denying what they had done let her know her partner had been lying to her the whole time and that's when she said her mindset started to change.

"It was like the string that started pulling away the fabric," she said in the phone call.

Franke said it was "embarrassing" how much power she gave to Hildebrandt and how gullible she had been.

She said while driving to the jail, she had sung hymns together with Hildebrandt. But she said she planned to request to be transported in separate vans for future trips to the courthouse.

Related topics